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How To Create Desktop Shortcuts In Ubuntu 11.04 And 11.10

If you have been using previous versions of Ubuntu then you must be familiar with the easy method of creating shortcuts of your favorite program on your desktop by jut right clicking on desktop and creating a launcher but in the newer version of Ubuntu you need to install certain packages to create shortcuts.

So we have prepared a guide which will enable you to install the different packages and how to create shortcuts on your desktop in the newer version of Ubuntu.

How To Create Shortcuts In Ubuntu 11.04 and 11.10

You need to install the required packages by opening the terminal window and entering the following commands sudo apt-get install –no-install-recommends gnome-panel

Enter your password when prompted

Enter “Y” when asked after it shows the packages that will be installed and how much disk space will be used.

After the installation is done you can use the following command in the command line to create new shortcuts gnome-desktop-item-edit –create-new ~/Desktop

When the shortcut is being the dialog box will display it and also make sure to select the application form the type drop down list

Enter the name of the shortcut in the name edit box and you can also browse button to select the command.

Make sure the programs executable are installed in /usr/bin

The moment you close the create launcher dialog box you will be returned to the terminal window where type exit and press enter to close the terminal window

The shortcut displays on the desktop just like windows shortcuts

You can also create shortcut by pressing Alt + F2 which will show the edit box and enter the commands it-create-new~/Desktop

You can also add shortcuts to your desktop to unity launcher by dragging and dropping the launcher

Well there you go with this guide you can create different shortcuts on the desktop on the latest version of the Ubuntu. So do let us know what you think and let us know if you were able to create shortcut or not.